by Dan Hunter
Akori crept closer and beckoned to the others to follow. They all hunkered down behind a rock, peeping over the top at the labouring creatures.
“They look like children,” Manu whispered to Akori.
He’d had the same thought. But then the “children” turned round. Horror struck Akori like a physical blow as he saw their inhuman faces. They weren’t children at all. They were hunched-over baboons, with bared and bloody fangs!
As one, the baboons screeched aloud, dropped to all fours, and charged across the rocks. Akori held his breath. They were coming straight at him!
Manu snatched up a rock and threw it at an oncoming baboon, knocking it sprawling. As the creature scrambled back to its feet, he turned to Akori. “What do we do? There are hundreds of them!”
Akori pointed to a hill of rubble that looked like a burial cairn. “Up there! We can make a stand on the high ground!”
Together, with the baboons close on their heels, they charged across the broken, uneven terrain. Ebe and Manu went scrambling up the slope to the top of the hill, while Akori backed up behind them, brandishing his khopesh threateningly. The baboons advanced, sniffed the air, made chittering noises and advanced again.
All across the valley, baboons were taking notice of the others’ calls. Heads popped up as the baboons scrambled over to attack. The ones near Akori made a high screeching noise, which was echoed by the oncoming ones.
“They’re talking to each other!” Manu said, half in awe and half in fear. “What kind of baboon does that?”
“They aren’t normal baboons, that’s for sure!” Akori reached the crown of the hill and stood with his sword out, ready to fight. “They must be servants of Oba!”
The baboons were surrounding the foot of the hill now. They squatted on the rocks and hopped up and down on the spot, as if they were mocking Akori. The three friends were completely surrounded.
Ebe hissed and shifted into her fighting form, the giant lioness-sized cat. Akori was glad, but also worried. Ebe would exhaust her reserves of power if she shifted form too many times. It would help now, but what about later on? He shook his head and prepared to fight. Later on could take care of itself. They just had to survive the battle facing them now…
With Akori on one side and Ebe the other, they braced themselves for the baboon attack. Manu hunted through the scroll, trying to find something that would help, but stuffed it away again.
Suddenly, as if they were obeying some order that only they could hear, the baboons all surged up the hill at once. Akori lashed out at the oncoming tide of grabbing, clawing bodies. Baboons were suddenly everywhere, screaming in his face, clutching at his legs, even grabbing at his sword and trying to tug it out of his hands.
He hacked at them, slicing through one and splitting another straight down the middle. It sickened him to have to kill like this – but he quickly changed his mind when he saw what happened to them once they were dead.
Every baboon he struck down instantly fell to the ground in a rattling heap of bones and dry dust. The remains looked like what would be left of a baboon after a thousand years in a desert tomb.
“These aren’t baboons at all,” he gasped. “They’re some kind of baboon spirits!”
“They must be servants of one of the corrupted Gods!” Manu shouted back, hurling rocks from the valley at the beasts.
With Ebe clawing the baboons with her fangs and teeth and Akori defending with his sword, they were only just managing to hold off the creatures. But still, the baboons attacked wildly, as an unthinking mob, surging up the hill.
Akori was beginning to ache all over, not from wounds – he had nothing worse than scratches – but from the violent effort of hacking the baboon spirits down. Even Ebe looked like she was beginning to tire.
“We can’t keep this up for ever!” Manu said, panting from the effort of throwing rock after rock. “They’ll wear us out!”
“We have no other choice,” Akori growled. I just hope our strength holds out, he thought. Already Akori felt exhausted and they’d barely made it into the Underworld.
Wearily he raised his sword to strike again – when suddenly a blood-curdling scream echoed across the valley. As one, the baboons turned and ran. Akori, Manu and Ebe all stared as the baboons scattered, hopping and scrambling across the ground, up the rocky sides and out over the uppermost edges. He expected them to turn and fling stones, but not one of them did. They simply vanished, giving the uncanny impression of obedience to an unseen commander.
“It’s got to be a bluff,” Manu said. “They’re goading us. When we come down from this hill, they’ll swarm all over us again.”
“You may be right,” Akori agreed. “We can’t leave yet. Let’s wait and see what they do.”
But as the minutes passed and nothing happened, Akori had to admit that the baboons really had fled. The three companions were alone in a silent valley, with nothing but the bones of long-dead baboons to prove that the fight had even happened.
“Let’s look at the scroll,” Akori suggested. “What are we meant to do next?”
“I can’t work it out,” Manu confessed. “It says the only way to proceed deeper into the Underworld is to ‘make a gateway from the bones of the Earth’ and walk through it.”
“Well, there are baboon bones here,” Akori said, poking them with his sandalled foot. “Let’s try making a doorway out of them.”
But no matter what they tried, it didn’t seem to work. They arranged the bones in a circle, in an arch, and in a square. But it clearly wasn’t the right answer.
Akori stopped in his tracks. “What exactly does the scroll say?”
“‘Make a gateway from the bones of the Earth’.”
“It definitely says of the Earth, not in the Earth?”
“That’s right!”
Akori looked at his own hand, at how the skin and muscle encased the bones of his wrist and fingers. If the flesh of the Earth is the soft parts like soil and mud, he thought, then the bones of the Earth must be the hard parts. Which means they must be…
“Stones!” Akori exclaimed. “The bones of the Earth are stones!”
Akori’s excitement at figuring out the riddle didn’t last long once the actual work began. It was a hard, tiring, sweaty job to drag rocks from the valley to the spot they’d chosen to build their gateway. He and Manu did all the heavy lifting, while Ebe – back in her small cat form again – kept a lookout from a high spot, in case the baboons returned.
At Manu’s suggestion, they had begun building the gateway against a sheer wall of the valley. The rocks would be easier to stack, Manu had explained, if they had a wall to lean against. So far they had built two wobbly-looking rock columns to act as the sides. Akori wasn’t sure what they would do when they needed to give the gateway a top. Rocks piled next to one another would just fall down.
Akori was moving three rocks for every one of Manu’s, and his were bigger, too. He couldn’t complain, however. Manu just wasn’t as strong as he was. Priests didn’t tend to be muscular, in Akori’s experience. They were either as skinny as skeletons from spending too long puzzling over scrolls, or fat from eating all the leftover temple offerings. A Pharaoh had to be strong, though. How could Akori defend his people without strength?
Akori hoisted a big stone up onto his shoulder and carried it over to their gateway, which was steadily taking shape. It reminded him of his former life, working on Uncle Shenti’s farm. Hauling rocks then, hauling rocks now – some things never changed.
“Are you sure we’re doing this right?” he asked Manu, wiping sweat from his face. “I mean, nothing’s happening. The rocks still look like rocks to me.”
“We won’t know until it’s finished,” huffed Manu, lifting a boulder the size of his head and adding it to one of the columns. “Till then, we just have to build it!”
Akori sighed, shook his head and went to fetch another rock. Then something caught his eye. There were hieroglyphs appearing on the columns, with
the same weird red light that shone from the veins in the rocks. He rubbed his weary eyes, but he could still see them.
“Manu, did you do that?” he asked.
“No! Let me check the scroll…” Manu looked up, his eyes wide with excitement. “It’s a match! Look, Akori. The hieroglyphs on the scroll match the ones on the doorway! That means we are doing this right!”
“Oh, thank the Gods!” Akori said in utter relief. “For a moment I thought all this work was for nothing!”
Now they knew they were on the right track, they worked even harder. The side columns were soon finished and they just had to add some sort of a top, to complete the doorway.
“What about this?” Manu suggested. He pointed out a long, flat slab of rock that was big enough to span the columns. The baboons had clearly been using it as a feasting table – it was spattered with blood and claw marks.
Akori tried to lift it, and just about managed to get it off the ground. “You’re going to have to help!” he puffed.
Manu came and helped Akori shuffle the broad stone over to the gateway.
“Now we just have to heave it into place,” Akori said. “On the count of three. Ready?”
“Ready. Just don’t knock the side columns over or we’ll have to start all over again!”
I really hope not, Akori thought. “One…two…three!”
Together they raised the stone up to knee height, then hip height, then – with a huge effort – to shoulder height. Manu’s teeth were bared and his knees were trembling. “Can’t…hold…it…”
Akori knew then he’d have to take the whole weight himself. He let loose a mighty roar and shoved, the veins standing out on his arms and neck. The lintel stone cleared the tops of the columns and with one last heave, it slid into place.
Akori staggered back, a screaming pain in his shoulder. No time to worry about that now. The hieroglyphs were shining as brightly as a firelit jackal’s eyes, and the space framed by the arch was wavering like the surface of a moonlit pool.
“We did it,” Manu gasped. “You did it.”
Ebe leaped down from rock to rock and stood alongside them. They hesitated for a moment on the threshold, unsure of what to expect.
“Well, good luck!” Akori said.
“You too,” smiled Manu. “Shall we?”
“Together,” Akori said. “Ready? Steady? Go!”
The three friends ran through the shimmering gate, right through the rock face and into pure, howling chaos. Akori could hear nothing but a continuous roar, like a waterfall or an avalanche. He, Ebe and Manu were flying – or falling – down a swirling tunnel of black storm clouds.
Akori somersaulted as he flew, helpless, like a tiny animal caught in a hurricane. The tunnel was exactly like the funnel of a whirlpool, or like the vortex that water forms when a basin is drained. Manu got the spell wrong, he thought in horror as they tumbled down the rotating vortex. We’re being swallowed up by some force of darkness even more powerful than Set and Oba!
As the swirling slowed, the three of them tumbled back into the Underworld. Disorientated, his head swimming, Akori looked out at his surroundings. They were in front of a palace. Akori could only stand and stare. The palace was the mirror image of his own.
“Recognize that symbol?” Manu pointed to a banner that hung above the entrance to the palace. “You ought to. It used to hang outside your own palace.”
Akori did recognize it – the red, jackal-like emblem of Set. Oba had used it as his personal mark, adding it to the shields of his finest warriors.
“Oba,” Akori growled, gripping the hilt of his khopesh. “So this is where he’s hiding!”
Akori was brimming with anticipation. “Manu, Ebe, look! We don’t even have all the Pharaoh Stones, and yet here we are at the end of our quest!”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Manu warned.
“But don’t you see?” Akori insisted. “We can strike now, when Oba is least expecting it!” Akori strode back and forth, swinging his khopesh. “He thinks I’ve got to collect all the Stones, but why not try it with two? We’re here, aren’t we? We don’t have to do everything the long, difficult way. We can attack now, free Osiris, and destroy the threat to Egypt in one swift stroke!”
Manu shook his head gravely. “But this isn’t the Hall of Judgement at all, Akori. Osiris isn’t here.”
“Maybe so,” said Akori, “but Oba is, and I won’t let him get away this time.”
Without pausing for thought, Akori ventured closer to the palace. But as he drew nearer he saw it wasn’t an exact replica of his own at all. It was more of a dark, twisted reflection. Where Akori’s palace was decorated in blue and gold, Oba’s was blood-red and sickly green. Akori’s palace had ornamental trees outside, but Oba’s had gigantic skeletal arms that thrust up out of the ground. The arms stretched out, grasping as the three friends passed by. Where Akori’s palace had pools, Oba’s had circular wells of fire. The birds that sat on Akori’s palace roof were scrawny vultures here. The statues that flanked the path up to the palace were hideous, with scowling demonic faces.
“There aren’t any guards,” Akori whispered to the others as they approached still closer. “Stay alert. It could be a trap!”
They reached the main gate to the courtyard, where instead of urns, the wall was decorated with carvings of snarling, monstrous faces. Their eyes rolled to watch Akori go by and their lips moved, but they had no way to speak. He wondered if they could pass on a warning to Oba, but soon realized they couldn’t even make a sound. They must just be Oba’s idea of attractive palace furnishings.
“There’s nobody here at all,” Manu whispered. “No guards, no servants, no priests – nothing! Maybe even Oba isn’t here!”
“He’d better be. I have a score to settle with that boy!” muttered Akori.
The gate was ajar. They slipped through into the courtyard, which in Akori’s palace was green and filled with flower beds. Here, it was all dark sand and rocks, with spiked iron barriers around the outside.
Still no guards, Akori thought. This must be a trap, surely. Last time he’d sneaked through a palace like this, it had been to confront Oba in person. All kinds of memories came flooding back to him now.
The inner doors creaked open before them.
“Let’s go to the throne room,” Akori said. “You all know the way. If Oba’s here, that’s where he’ll be.”
As they entered the corridor, the doors slammed shut behind them.
“Akori, I think this is a trap,” Manu stammered.
“I know,” said Akori. “But we still have to see if Oba is here.”
They soon reached the great double doors that led into the throne room. Akori nodded to Ebe, who shifted into her fighting form. Manu quickly studied the scroll, found nothing useful, and tucked it away again with a sigh.
Akori shoulder-charged the doors. They burst open, revealing a long audience chamber with a raised platform at one end. The throne that stood there was a gruesome, mangled-looking construction made from bones. The skull of a lioness topped one arm, the skull of a dog the other, and a dead falcon hung upside down above. Two skulls had been speared onto poles behind it, and Oba’s banner hung between them.
Oba himself sat on the throne, smirking. Akori clenched his fists at the sight of his old enemy.
“Do you like my throne?” Oba asked. “It’s a riddle. I wonder if a lumpen clod like you can work it out.”
Akori glared at the skulls. “It’s obvious, Oba. And twisted, just like you.”
“Go on.”
“You’re mocking the Gods. The two skulls are meant to be Isis and Ra. The lioness and dog are Sekhmet and Anubis. And the falcon is Horus!”
Oba gave a slow, mocking clap. “Oh, bravo. I intend to replace the skulls with the real thing soon, but this will do for now.”
Akori brandished his khopesh. “Remember this?”
“Of course. Tell me, have you learned to fight yet?”
�
��That scar on your chest is a mess,” Akori scowled. “It looks like someone’s sealed you up with burning tar. What happened to the nice clean wound I left you with?”
Oba’s face crumpled into a sneer. “Enough. I’d love to stay and chat some more, but I’m afraid I have urgent work to do. What with preparing my army of the dead and planning the attack on Egypt, I’m a little busy.”
“Not too busy to die,” Akori shouted, advancing on him. Ebe and Manu followed behind, grim looks on their faces.
“Oh! Speaking of dying, I almost forgot. There’s someone you just have to meet!” Oba snapped his fingers.
The doors burst open. Akori stood frozen to the spot as a monstrous horror came bounding into the room. It was a gigantic baboon, wearing armour and shaking a long club.
To his horror, Akori realized the club had been cobbled together from dead men’s bones, human skulls leering at its peak.
“Now I really must go,” Oba said, waggling his fingers. “Goodbye, all of you. I’d wish you luck, but there’s no point, since you’re all going to die.”
Oba hastily slipped out of the rear door, closing it behind him, as the baboon craned its huge head down to peer at Akori and let out a bone-chilling howl…
Akori knew in his heart that this was the unseen thing from his dream.
“It’s Babi!” Manu yelled. “The Baboon God!”
Babi turned to Manu and snarled. Manu gave a frightened yelp and backed away fast, bumping into Ebe, who was arching her back. Akori couldn’t remember ever seeing the young priest so scared of anything they’d faced before.
“Keep talking,” Akori urged him. “I need to know everything you can tell me.”
Manu gulped. “He’s the lord of all baboons, in the world of the dead and the living. He’s one of the most brutal, the most violent, the most bloodthirsty beasts in the whole Underworld.”
Babi clutched his club in both hands, crashing it through a pillar before raising it above his head triumphantly. His huge shoulders hitched up and down and a vile hooting sound came from his throat. The God was laughing.
